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NEW YORK — Jhony Brito’s cool and confident demeanor was a valuable asset through his first two Major League starts, which yielded a pair of winning efforts. Now the Yankees’ right-hander must prove he can bounce back from a bad one.
Brito was rocked for seven runs in the first inning on Thursday, hung with the loss as the Yankees fell to the Twins, 11-2, at Yankee Stadium.
“If you look at the outing, I was falling behind a lot of hitters there,” Brito said through an interpreter. “A lot of my pitches were not in the zone. When I was forced to get back in the zone, they were ready to hit. You’ve got to give them credit. They’ve got a good team.”
The 25-year-old rookie faced nine batters and retired only two, with Minnesota laying off his changeup and pounding his sinker and four-seam fastball. Michael A. Taylor hit his first of two homers to chase Brito, who permitted six hits and one walk.
“It was a tough night,” catcher Kyle Higashioka said. “We couldn’t really get the sinker in and were having trouble getting the changeup down. They were just jumping on every single mistake.”
Trevor Larnach lifted a sacrifice fly before Jose Miranda, Donovan Solano and Christian Vázquez all roped doubles off Brito, who had limited the Giants and Orioles to one run and five hits through his first 10 innings in the Majors.
“Nights like this are going to happen in baseball. It’s how you come back,” Brito said. “I can tell you tomorrow, I’m going to sit down with the pitching coach. We’re going to go over the video and make the adjustments, whatever might be necessary.”
Added Higashioka: “Tomorrow we’ll probably review it with a clear head and go over what went wrong, and what we can improve on next time.”
When right-hander Luis Severino was sidelined late this spring with a right lat strain, Brito’s poise played a large part in earning an opportunity to fill in.
Rated as the Yankees’ No. 27 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Brito had already been optioned to Minor League camp when the club summoned him to start a March 26 exhibition against the Blue Jays in Tampa, Fla.
It was essentially an audition, and Brito aced it, retiring all 16 Toronto batters he faced to earn a place on the Opening Day roster. Including his spring performances, Thursday’s outing marked the first time the Yankees’ big league staff and players have seen Brito hit hard.
“Back to work,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s got a great head on his shoulders. This is unfortunately part of the game. You get punched in the mouth in this game. He’s equipped to handle that.”
Taylor added a two-run blast in the third inning off right-hander Colten Brewer, who allowed three homers over 3 1/3 innings.
Anthony Rizzo snapped a string of 11 consecutive Yankees retired to open the game in the fourth inning, belting a solo homer off Joe Ryan.
“As a professional, you need to just make sure you play your game and try to scratch runs,” said Rizzo, who added a second home run in the ninth, part of a three-hit night. “Try to get a big inning to get us back in it. It didn’t happen today, but I’ve seen this team do it from afar a lot.”
Brito’s early exit created extensive relief workloads for Brewer (3 1/3 innings) and Ian Hamilton (three innings), which Boone said could prompt a roster move before Friday’s game.
“Not ideal, but those guys picked us up,” Boone said.
After Jimmy Cordero worked the eighth inning, Boone opted to save bullets by having Isiah Kiner-Falefa take the mound in the ninth, the infielder/outfielder’s first career pitching appearance.
Kiner-Falefa tossed a scoreless ninth around a single, a frame that included a 38.5 mph eephus on his second pitch, which sailed behind the head of Twins third baseman Jose Miranda.
“I loved it,” Rizzo said. “When the game is that big out of hand, it saves us all big-time for tomorrow. I was really hoping Kiner would play into the crowd a little bit more, give a little crowd-pleaser coming off the field, but it’s not his style.”